Endar

Endar

Labels

Blog Archive

Tuesday 1 March 2011

Dwarven Forge vs Hirst Arts

The title is only a provocation,
Dwarven Forge (DF) and Hirst Arts (HA) are really two different things, and makes no sense to compare them to determine which is better..it depends on how are you and what you look for.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dwarven Forge
Pro:
-it's ready to use (no expense of time)
-aesthetic,robustness and modularity guaranteed to a good level.
Con:
- it's not cheap (expecially outside US)
- you are limited by the existing catalog

Hirst Arts 
Pro:
- much more satisfaction, what you create is unique.
- more flexible, you can build everything you want
- you can amortize costs, producing many stuff (in any case, HA it's not properly cheap) 
Con:
- you need a lot of time...really a lot (this is the biggest problem with HA)
- need a minimum of skill in order to obtain something nice (respect aesthetic and modularity)
- if you use plaster the pieces are not very robust, but if you use resin,HA starts to become quite expensive.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
But this list is not enough to choose..now you have to ask to yourself what you want.. the goal it's to have stuff to play D&D in 3D? or you want primarily an hobby? how much time you have? how much money? you are a creative guy?etc etc

For people like me, that can't decide so easily between DF and HA, maybe looking some  pictures can helps.
I've a friend, "Capochino" (is a nickname..in some forums is knows also as "Starmaster"), near Milano like me, that has built a lot of stuff with HA, and he uses this stuff to play D&D.
In this Post I want to show some of his HA stuff compared with my DF stuff....

Dungeons:

HA
DF
as you can see above, the Capochino's dungeons (see the link on his website) are very modular (are made with Plaster and MDF for the base below the floors)

3 HA dungeons pictures:

3 DF dungeons pictures


Medioeval/Tavern:
HA

DF:


Caverns:
HA:

DF:

Whatever you want...
HA:

DF?
this is a point in favor for HA...DF are really beatiful,...but with DF you are limited by the existing catalog..
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
so...What I suggest?
don't choose between HA and DF....
use both...    ;-)
DF + HA

This is the Capochino's website..
http://www.capochino.it/index.php
unfortunately at the moment it's only in italian, but there are a lot of inspiring pictures as in this section

2 comments:

  1. Endar, what are you doing to me? ;)
    I've always considered adding Hirst Arts to my collection, but I hesitated because of the time consuming assembly&painting. But after seeing your blog post....

    I'm doomed to buy some. And I'm starting to feel really good about it. Damn gaming addiction...

    Great posts, looking forward to the next one!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Kronos, sorry for the delay.
    thanks :)
    PS
    maybe before you invest money on the molds, you can start buying HA pieces already casted, just to see if you like the sytem.

    ReplyDelete